Where to Give Now: May 2020
aka How to help Joe Biden win….
As an alum of John Kerry’s presidential campaign, I know all too well how it feels to get overconfident in the face of a terrible incumbent. You just can’t believe anyone would vote for this idiot, right? But as Bush ran up the vote among Evangelical voters to help secure his win, Trump is spending millions in key battleground states to register non-college white men to vote. Make no mistake — this will be a close election. And Biden is most vulnerable to Trump’s 2:1 cash advantage from now through the convention in August. So it’s time to break out the checkbooks.
Look, Joe Biden wasn’t my first choice — or my second. But I trust him, I trust his (growing) team, and I trust the movement around him who will do everything they can to win and push him on key issues before and after the election.
Most politicos agree that the battleground states are: MI, PA, WI (Midwest/rust belt) and AZ, FL, NC (Southern/sunbelt). Republicans are targeting MN while Democrats hope to put GA and possibly TX in play. Some are also wondering whether IA and OH should come back on the map given Biden’s strong profile and polling in each state. And both sides will contest ME-2 and NE-2, states that split their electoral college votes by congressional district. To a lesser extent, resources will need to be spent to keep CO, NM, NV, and VA in the Democratic column
Post-primary, Biden is performing well with African-American voters (especially over 35) and is over-performing with older voters, +10 vs. Trump’s +5 in 2016. There is a wider gender gap and a wider education gap vis a vis 2016 as well. However, Biden is underperforming with two critical constituencies: Latinx voters and young voters. The good news is, these voters overlap (the Latinx population is the youngest in the country -- by far) and are largely turnout targets rather than persuasion targets, meaning if we can register them to vote and make the case why their vote will matter, they vote overwhelmingly Democratic. The bad news is, the groups doing this work are historically underfunded and they represent transient populations who are harder to find, especially post-COVID.
The Party
The single most effective use of your presidential dollars is to max out to the Biden campaign ($2,800 for the primary and $2,800 for the general election; you can donate here.). This is true for down-ballot candidates as well; max directly before considering SuperPAC or national party donations. Not only do candidates get the cheapest pricing for purchasing ad time by law but hearing messages from the candidate directly is often the most impactful paid media. It also allows candidates to determine where they money is needed most (field vs. digital, etc).
The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have set up a joint fundraising effort dubbed the Biden Victory Fund. You can donate up to $360,000. This includes general support, the legal fund, and the building fund. There is also a fund the includes donations to state parties in battleground states (including Senate and other down-ballot races); the max is $620,600. I have been heartened by the new hires in the Biden campaign and they will be rolling out state-based and other staff as well as a new website and digital tools in the coming weeks.
Other Options
For those with additional capacity, SuperPACs are an option as well as 501c3 and 501c4 organizations working on voter registration, education, mobilization as well as voter protection.
The Alliance for Youth Organizing (c3) / Alliance for Youth Action (c4) is the largest grassroots youth-focused organization in the country. They work in 20 states with an emphasis on turning out young voters. Over the past 15 years, its affiliates have led cutting-edge youth turnout tactics. They also founded National Voter Registration Day, invented automatic voter registration, and lead voter modernization efforts in many states. They are also a lead partner in a coalition with MTV dubbed +1 the Polls to increase student voting — a crucial issue post- COVID, as many colleges will remain virtual. (Full disclosure: I am a founding Board member and am currently on the c4 Board.) NextGen America runs impactful programs on college campuses in swing states and through digital work and Planned Parenthood also runs excellent outreach to young women through their campus network as well as digital ads. As 40% of the electorate, we simply cannot take young voters for granted.
There is not one major Latinx-focused organization; it is a patchwork of state-based and multi- state efforts. Mi Familia Vota Education Fund is particularly strong in states like AZ, CO, FL, and TX. Mijente runs large programs in GA and NC focused on new immigrant and mixed- immigration status households. Poder Latinx is primarily c4 but also has a c3 arm working in AZ, FL, GA, and NC; they run field, phone, and digital programs that feature cultural influencers as well as relational organizing. Various immigrant organizing groups like United We Dream also run non-partisan electoral programs. It is important to note that Latinx communities make up increasingly large voting blocs outside of the Southwest and should be incorporated into every state and candidate strategy.
America Votes is the umbrella organization coordinating c4, 527, and SuperPAC work (think: Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, EMILY’s List, AFL-CIO, etc). They have traditionally been field-focused (including mail) but even pre-COVID were ramping up digital and paid media coordination. They will have an online platform to aggregate all metrics, including vote by mail/absentee requests and execution, for all 400+ partners to use. They run programs in 12 core states and 13 expansion states; capacity varies by state but they are particularly strong in presidential battlegrounds where they have been on the ground for over 15 years.
State Voices is the umbrella organization for over 100 501c3 groups nationally and in critical states working on democracy issues with an emphasis on engaging historically marginalized communities. Voter registration and mobilization is the keystone of their work and they utilize local, trusted groups to engage voters. State Voices not only coordinates programs but also provides data tools, training, and support; many organizations would not have access to the voter file without them. They are rapidly trying to increase the online, digital, and SMS capacity of their partners to engage hard-to-reach voters.
State Voices is also an excellent vehicle for outreach to African-American voters; most election-related communications to black voters are process or issue focused, rather that persuasion, and can therefore be done with 501c3 money (with the exception of young black men who are persuasion targets). Groups like Color of Change and Black Votes Matter are focused on African- American persuasion and mobilization on the 501c4 side. This is a big over-simplification of outreach to black communities but a starting place; more information can be provided upon request.